Stress management and prevention
You have now started to identify how stressed you are and how it manifests itself physically, mentally, emotionally, and behaviorally in you. This is an important prerequisite for moving on to stress management. The management and treatment of stress is often a combination of biological, psychological, and social interventions aimed at behavioral change, i.e. doing something different from what you usually do.
Biological stress management
Biologically, you can work on activating some of the body's automatic reflexes that can reduce or turn off the stress response. Studies have shown that moderate physical activity, where the heart rate is increased by about 30% from the resting heart rate, can reduce stress.
You can also activate the sensors on the body's surface that detect cold and heat. Alternating, for example, a sauna and a cold bath (or just a hot bath followed by a cold bath) can activate the same reflex as moderate physical activity and reduce the stress response. It is important to remember that it is the repetition that makes the difference.
Psychological and social stress management
Biological interventions can be complemented by psychological interventions. A psychologist will be able to help identify the core of the stress problem and the patterns of behavior and thinking that may contribute to maintaining or exacerbating the problem. This identification is a necessary prerequisite for initiating the behavioral changes needed to break the pattern.
The psychologist can also help you to better manage the strong and often overwhelming emotions associated with stress. When completing the "Stress Management" worksheet, you have already started this process of getting to know your own automatic reaction patterns, what you feel in your body, what happens in your mind and emotions, and how you react and act on it. This is where you can start to think about in what other ways you can act, and what you can change, and then look at how this over time can change the sensations in your body, the patterns of thinking and feeling.
There are many other things that might also be good to do to prevent and manage stress before it becomes too severe. Research in the field of nature therapy suggests that nature in itself and being present in nature has a stress-reducing effect. Other stress-preventing activities can be relaxation exercises or yoga, going for a walk in the woods, listening to music or dancing with a loved one, or sitting down, relaxing and planning life, as these are all activities that help to create well-being, peace, direction and meaning in life. Therefore, this week there will also be yoga exercises on the program.
